


Help you

by ShadowSelene (Shadowdianne)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-15 22:11:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18081866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowdianne/pseuds/ShadowSelene
Summary: "You never used to be like this..." "Well, things have changed." SQ as always, please. Asked by emettkaysworld via tumblr





	Help you

**Author's Note:**

> I’m quite giddy on how this one turned out even if I tweaked a little the obvious angst undertone of the original prompt just because. I will be at the comment section ;)
> 
> Also, since this has transformed into a 4k thing and it’s my 2:30 am I’ll post it now and edit it tomorrow. Apologies for any typo.
> 
> Set in: 4x21/4x22 (Operation mongoose I & II)

 

The still formless silhouette of the tower rose in front of them, the dark of the soil and rock quite the contrast against the waves the ship they had managed to procure at the port kept on soaring through and Regina bite down on her bottom lip as she glanced at it, droplets of salt water hitting her cheeks as she did so. At her side, albeit equally silent, the teen that had come to her with theories that would surpass any dream or vision given by fairy dust, was eyeing the tower as well with barely concealed anticipation. Anticipation that Regina felt as well; coiling in her stomach as she fidgeted with the ends of her vest, her eyes briefly glancing at the case in where her not mounted bow and arrows waited for her.

She still didn’t understand what she was doing; why she had given to the captain’s boat every piece of coin she owned, as close as she had been to have enough to buy a safe passage to some of the more northern kingdoms within the forest. A brief moment of fear assaulted the back of her throat, coating it with bitterness but the feeling disappeared just as quickly even if her fingertips itched as she stared at the bow. She had apparently decided on going into an adventure, an operation like the teen at her side kept on calling it, even if she didn’t know what to make of it yet.

Back at the small place she had created for herself she had been about to tell the boy to leave her alone, to try to find this Emma, whomever that was, after the boy had called her “mom” for the hundredth time. The title, as much as it surprised her, wasn’t exactly what had left her speechless but the story that accompanied it. A kind of story that could only be product of a feverish, maddened mind.

_“Am I supposed to live in Mine? Where I became your adopted mother after someone named Emma gave you up?”_

That other name was also a strange one; the reaction it brought within her enough to make her pause as she pressed the tip of her tongue against the roof of her mouth. There was something there, her subconscious had whispered. She had pronounced the name just as the boy had done but her tongue halted between the “m”, lengthening the name for a second longer, the resulting sound breathier and conjuring up a trembling image made out of forest green and dirty white shadow that had almost made her stumble. She had glanced at the boy, weary, afraid that behind those gentle eyes the Queen would be whispering those words, fingers curled around a heart that wouldn’t belong to the boy anymore. Yet, when she had asked it directly the boy’s eyes had widened in surprise and tiredness, the reaction far too human, far too alive, for her to be able to shoot the arrow she still had had dangling from her drawn bow.

_“I’m trying to help you.”_

He then had proceeded to bother her with questions regarding Robin Hood, the man not exactly high up her list of people she cared about and so, when he had mentioned true love as the final prove that would be her own way to destroy the curse they allegedly were under, she had shaken her head, denying and stomping on that option as soon as it was spoken outload. It didn’t matter if she was truly Regina, from Maine, her happy ending wasn’t with a man and so she was going to help Henry, yes, but with one condition; she decided how.

And so they had ended up in the port, the captain they had found open enough to the notion of carrying them to the tower one that had been far too occupied with savoring the money he was asking them to give to truly question why they needed to go to a place that, for what the stories said, was not only heavily guarded but hold a powerful sorceress that had made Queen Snow decide to make an example out of it. Something Regina knew that it wasn’t something that common.

Now, as the ship approached to the tower, she wasn’t entirely sure what she was going to find at the top of it. Henry had been secretive about Emma, about this… savior. She was her mother apparently and had magic on her own but the boy himself didn’t seem to have any or truly be willing to explain how his mother’s worked. Not like it interested her, Regina chided herself, magic wasn’t something she dwelled on, not after Snow. As the ship sailed even nearer to the tower she glanced around, to the few dark figures scattered here and there that had probably already seen them; their dark clothes signaling them as king’s guards.

That made Regina smile minutely; taking a few of those? That she could do.

She didn’t feel the pull up until the captain told them that he would not carry them further than where they currently were, the promise of waiting for them one Regina managed to get out of him with a glance to her bow. Henry’s face was white, his facial muscles tight when they both picked up the small rowboat the ship had, the oars old but sturdy enough as they both moved. It was then, in the middle of slowly dying waves, that she first felt the pull, a tingle, almost imperceptible, making her glance at the top of the tower once more; at the dome-shaped roof.

_“Emma.”_

The name echoed strangely inside her mind and she shook it once more, a vague but slightly more focused image being conjured as she kept up the pace, the first shouts from the king’s guards already beginning to reach their ears. Luckily for them, it didn’t seem that nights had been waiting for anyone to arrive and they truly didn’t pose much of a problem as Regina shot arrow after arrow as the rowboat hit the shore. The squelching sound of arrows impacting the junctures of their armors one that made Henry press his lips together, green coloring his temples, but not something Regina knew how to help with. She still tried however, giving him a tense smile as the boy fidgeted for a second before kneeling next to the one that had seemed the captain, a set of keys on his belt. She didn’t say a thing then, but she followed him as he turned and began the ascension to the first steps of many, the keys on his hands and a glare on his eyes. It reminded her of someone she suddenly realized but she shook her head and kept on walking behind the boy who had spent their entire journey together trying hard not to call her mom and failing spectacularly while doing so.

The interior of the tower was truer than the exterior; years of unkempt obvious in the many cracks the walls sported, cold salty air running through the mostly empty place as they kept on ascending for what felt like hours. Dust caked every surface aside from the faint footsteps imprinted in some parts of the stairs and they followed them as wind howled at the other side, small windows letting Regina check from time to time that the ship was, in fact, still where they had left it. Henry didn’t speak as they ascended but his breathing was labored, and Regina kept glancing at him, an almost fond feeling growing inside her chest even if she didn’t know where that came from. Her thoughts were cut short, however, when they reached the last landing, the roof far too close to their heads as they both stared at the closed door in front of her. Made from sturdy wood, scratches covered it, symbols that made Regina stare at them; glyphs she didn’t understand, that she was not supposed to understand.

Yet, even if she didn’t, she found herself stepping closer to the door, a substance oozing out of the symbols as if it had just been applied and even if she wasn’t entirely sure of the glyphs origin she had traded with enough shady individuals to recognize squid ink when she saw it. A magical inhibitor.

She should be frightened, more than she felt truly, but she stepped aside as Henry began to fiddle with the keys, the third eliciting a crackling noise as the door gave away and let them enter.

The insides of the room weren’t dark as Regina had thought they would but the scattered sun beams that seeped through holes in the roof weren’t strong enough to cast total light in the dome-like room. Not that they needed it as the woman they had been searching for laid in the middle, crouched in a ball and face partially shadowed by blonde locks.

“Mom!”

Henry’s scream made Regina realize she had been staring, utterly dumfounded. The kneeling woman was shackled, the clinking sound of the chains the first thing her ears registered as Henry took a few steps before halting altogether; the blonde mane moving as well as the kilometric amount of cloth the dress the woman wore. Something that, even if her mind simply deduced was what sorceress wore, was quickly replaced by tight pants and a very thin white top, thinner than anything Regina could truly think off. The image appeared and fizzled out from her mind the second she tried to focus on it but when the slumping woman rose her face towards them she found herself swallowing thickly at those green eyes that quickly fell on her before falling back to the boy at her side. Boy that, as Regina fought against the prickling feeling that kept on growing at the back of her mind, now seemed much younger than he had previously looked.

Bow clutched on her hand, Regina stood near the door as Henry sighed and chewed on his bottom lip, nervousness on his movements as he took a few steps more, the silence heavy as the other woman kept staring at them, fear on her own eyes, chin trembling in something that Regina could only guess was a sob.

And she wondered how she could know that, how she felt connected to her. Henry had told her she had adopted him but she had never explained how Emma had come in the picture once more -the thought of the other woman’s name eliciting the same strange echo than before inside her mind, the name an important one, a powerful one- and, for a second, she felt like kneeling herself in front of the blonde, ask her who she herself truly was.

A stupid thought, her more practical side whispered, but once that clung to her nonetheless.

“Hello.” Henry seemed to have found his voice again and he tilted his head to his right, a movement that was followed by the woman’s green eyes as she still kept silent. It occurred to Regina that Snow was a master in disguising herself, in torturing those who wronged her. Emma didn’t sport any obvious wounds, not ones she could see on her hands -clutched around her dress, bunching the already wrinkled dress- or her face -blank, weary-, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t been tortured.  “My name is…”

It felt like a strange echo of how the boy had approached her before, but this time the words came burdened by the fear of his other mother not recognizing him. Something that made Regina close her eyes at. Even if the boy was truly mad he seemed like he truly cared about the kneeling woman. It would be devastating if…

Her thoughts were cut short was a ragged “Henry”, the blonde’s voice hoarse as if she had been screaming but clear enough for the boy himself to stop and smile tentatively.

“You remember?”

Regina watched the reunion from afar, how Henry closed the final few steps between his blonde mother as the woman scrambled to her feet, the shackles making her to keep herself slightly hunched, unable to reach her real height as they dragged her down. The dress hung badly on her frame, as it not only truly didn’t belong to her, but she hadn’t been fed in quite the time and Regina sucked on her breath at that, feeling useless as well as angry. A feeling she didn’t really understand.

Emma, on her part, was smiling at Henry now, her lips stretched thin as tears welled up, red beginning to rim her eyes but her momentarily blindness was short lived as she quickly zeroed in Regina once more; a very different kind of hope shining there. One that made Regina take a step forward without even realizing it.

“Reg…” Emma’s voice was dubitative at best, her eyes now taking into Regina’s appearance, the look one the brunette truly didn’t know what to make out of it. One corner of those lips rose, creating a ghost of a smile that fell just as quickly as Henry shook his head, his voice soft but sad.

“She doesn’t remember.”

Emma’s eyes widened at that and Regina pressed her lips together at Henry’s words. Up until now a part of her had considered that this, whatever that was, was a mere product of the boy’s imagination. Yet, Emma’s attitude as she looked at her told a different story; one in where she was in the wrong, in where she was, apparently, truly the boy’s other mother. The punch that brought with it one that made her almost take a step back as Henry quietly but quickly liberated the blonde with another key, the shackles falling into the floor with an echoing clanging noise.

Regina locked her shoulders, straightening her spine as Emma kept eyeing her, the feeling of unease morphing into something the brunette wasn’t entirely sure how to describe. And yet, when Emma began to chuckle, she could only blink and raise one eyebrow.

“What?” Her voice sounded acerbic, not exactly like hers but holding a different drawl, almost a different accent altogether, a mix of her own usual one, the one she knew she possessed, and one that spoke of a royal. Something she wasn’t.

Emma, however, didn’t seem all that bothered about her voice or her posture, the chuckles morphing into an almost wheezing sound that made her shake her head from side to side, blonde hair following the movement.

"Nothing.” Shoulders shrugging, Emma seemed to be immersed on her own private joke as something close to fondness glazed her eyes. “It’s just… you never used to be like this, dress like this. Once you remember you are going to be mad.”

Regina found herself rolling her eyes at that. The words spoke not only more about that apparent other self she had been back in Maine but also on the relationship she seemed to have with the blonde woman. One close enough for her to know how she used to dress.

Lips pressed and a part of her starting to grow impatient and yet craving of that other reality, she run her tongue through her teeth for a moment, realizing that the buzzing feeling on her skin seemed to have settled for the moment as Emma had been liberated. A strange notion to have.

"Well, things have changed." It wasn’t exactly the answer she wanted to give, as she didn’t know how much things had truly changed for the blonde in front of her but, for the first time, she found herself wanting to be that other woman both Henry and Emma seemed to see whenever they looked at her.

Fortunately for her, a roar was heard in that moment, the flapping of wings outside the tower giving her the perfect answer to the tension she felt inside her chest: time to go.

-.-

The descent was just as quick as the ascension had been with the added bonus of something that felt very much like a dragon growling and roaring just above them all. The sea had begun to get choppier, the waves taller than before with every glance Regina took from the slits the windows were. Yet, the ship was still there, the captain apparently more interested on getting more gold than leaving them. Which worked for Regina as long as they reached the ship itself.

Emma’s legs seemed to not truly be able to keep her standing though; the amount of time she had been chained an undetermined one as apparently the curse they were all in according to Henry’s previous words back in the forest had been for them all to remain in stasis within the book. So, even if she managed to fair well through the stairs, dress billowing after her, as they reached the bottom of the tower she staged and almost fell, the movement causing Regina to reach forward and help her. Something that made her blink as roaring flames from a memory she wasn’t entirely sure was truly hers momentarily became everything she was about to focus on as it was Emma this time -the Emma dressed almost like a knight, the texture of strange clothing everywhere- who helped her. The image left her, dissolving into nothingness as she pushed forward but it seemed like Emma was also thinking about it as well as she glanced at her, bottom lip trapped between her teeth.

The imposing shadow of a dragon the moment they stepped outside, however, made impossible for Regina to question herself about that. She had heard stories about the scaly creatures; how they were able to shadow entire lands with their power and yet nothing could have prepared her for the roaring monster or how intelligent and cunning eyes zeroed on them as the first wave of heat touched them, making them squint their eyes and duck, a fireball exploding far too close for Regina’s liking.

“We need to get into the boat!”

Henry’s scream brought Regina back to the present and she could feel Emma nodding at her side, her body still trembling a little. As much as Regina wanted to believe they were going to make it, however, a sudden doubt clutched her chest, making her stagger but the blonde at her side kept on moving, her weight shifting just slightly so, for a moment, she was the one carrying Regina, pushing forward.

The dragon kept on flapping its wings high above them, claws and teeth everything Regina was able to think about as their approached the boat. The ship ahead, however, seemed to start moving, the captain probably having decided it wasn’t worth to wait for them anymore and Regina wanted to scream at it as she moved her head to the side, trying to get some loose strands of hair away from her eyes.

Still holding onto Emma with one arm-or letting the blonde hold onto her, she wasn’t sure anymore- she swallowed and turned abruptly towards the monster. Maybe, a voice inside of her, she could try to shoot at it, try to make it focus on her rather than…

Her thoughts, thoughts she didn’t know she even was able to possess, protectiveness of others not precisely her stronger suit, were once more interrupted by Emma as the blonde’s hand grasped her wrist, skin prickling once more as tiny sparks that only grew in intensity seeming to pour from the blonde’s body into hers with a hint of urgency that made Regina wince.

“You never taught me how to do this.” Emma’s words didn’t make any sense, but her eyes were colored dirty white as she spoke, and Regina could feel the taste of something her deeper part of her mind latched into; some old memory being jogged by the feel of magic. Emma smiled that lopsided smile of hers, one Regina had surprisingly found herself attached to, before she turned back to Henry; the boy having halted as well as the ship kept on moving in the distance, probably too far away from them now. “Kid! Come here!”

Henry turned and rose his brows, curious, but he ultimately followed the blonde’s request, face paler than ever.

“Do you have a plan?” His voice cracked, and Regina’s mind brought forth yet another image of a slightly younger boy, barely eight, that was scared of darkness. She pressed forward.

Emma nodded, her hand still around Regina’s wrist, the wrist that wasn’t holding onto the bow as the dragon kept roaring ahead of them. It didn’t seem to be about to kill them though, as if it sensed that they were truly stranded now. She still felt on edge though, the charred marks of the dragon’s attacks smoking around the three of them.

Offering her other hand, the blonde’s eyes flashed once more, her voice growing strained.

“Give me your hand.” Her tone didn’t give that much room to doubt the order and so Henry grasped it just as quickly, the humming from before intensifying on Regina’s ears as Henry’s eyes kept focused on Emma; afraid.

“Mom, you don’t know how to…”

Emma’s jaw locked.

“I will do it.”

And, just as the dragon began its descent, Regina felt her body disappear in a plume of dirty-white colored smoke, their feet quickly repairing at the ship’s dock making the captain curse a couple of expletives she wasn’t truly in the mood to listen to.

The dragon roared, knowing it had lost but it wasn’t that what Emma seemed to be able to focus on as her eyes fell to Regina’s hand, skin still prickling, and the brunette needed to swallow a gasp as she saw purple oozing out of her.

“Seems like the author wasn’t able to kill that about you.”

Emma’s words were full of pride and Regina didn’t know what to make of them, but she nodded as the sparks slowly died out; exhausted.

-.-

It wasn’t until much later, once they were back in the enchanted forest shore with something close to a plan formed and Snow’s sneering words still ringing on their ears as they run towards a chapel Regina didn’t want to enter into, that Emma brought the magic once more. She had already changed, the dress transformed into something closer, much closer, to the image that kept superimposing itself every time Regina looked at her and she kept looking at her in a way that made a thousand questions spill from Regina’s mind. The one that kept appearing, however, is how the blonde seemed to sure that she crashing a wedding would help them all in any way.

It had been Henry who had tried to explain it; the end of the book, the end of curse if they managed to alter the narrative. Regina had wanted to point out that the narrative had probably been altered, whatever that truly meant but Emma had said that only true love could break the curse. Her voice when she had said that had been dull and, for a moment, it seemed almost like she had forgotten to create a façade between her words and her actions, sparks crackling between her fingers and hair once more before she had shaken her head, probably willing them all to disappear.

And Regina wanted to question the blonde about it, about the strange look she had given to Henry when the boy had softly pointed out with an almost morose look that he had been unable to find Hook. The name didn’t ring any bells to Regina, but she had felt an immediate animadversion to it and, judging from Emma’s distant and uncomfortable hum she wasn’t fond of him as well. Which, for who knew what reason, made Henry blink, at loss.

She hadn’t questioned the blonde about at the end though, the stiffening of the blonde’s limbs as their plan was discussed more than enough to make Regina want to say that no, Robin couldn’t be her happy ending, couldn’t be the end of the curse. The very thought made her uneasy and she didn’t like the fervent look Henry got on his eyes for a few seconds, words of ink, authorship and quill falling from his lips until Emma had stopped him with a soft glance.

“It will be alright.” She had said before sighing and closing her eyes for a second, façade slipping back in and Regina had opted to choose to believe her.

-.-

The plan didn’t work as expected; the Hero, the one who Emma called Gold between gritted teeth, had arrived far too early, Emma had tried her best and Regina had shot arrow after arrow as they all waited, hoped for Robin to come, to look at Regina and for Regina to feel whatever was expected from her, a flash, a string of memories like she had with both Henry and Emma. But that never happened, not when Emma got hit and Henry interceded, picking the sword as he screamed for Regina to go inside the church, to stop the wedding.

But Regina couldn’t, wouldn’t, so she stepped between the final blow of the blade and the boy, falling into her knees and looking at the gash as she slowly began to bleed.

She didn’t quite hear Emma’s scream, the echo of the chiming bells faint and distant the longer she tried to remain conscious. The gash itself wasn’t all that deep but it cut through her stomach, the pain making it almost impossible for her to breathe and so she gurgled, trying to, hoping that something, anything would happen.

Yet, Robin didn’t appear, time running out and Emma rushing to her side, her boots stomping into the ground as she knelt.

“Regina, please.”

She could hear Emma now, magic pouring out of her, curling around her braid but Regina’s mind conjured the bleak and yet utterly stupid realization she had never taught the blonde how to heal. She almost chuckled at that; sets of memories erasing others with a glacial pace; stuck between that Regina of Maine and the one she had thought it had been her. Rising one hand she touched Emma’s cheek, thinking back on the forlorn looks, on how Emma’s breathing had caught whenever Robin was mentioned, whenever that other man, Hook, was mentioned.

She knew what it was now, but it was too late.

Or maybe not, even if she was almost fainting by the time a commotion echoed a few feet away from her, her name falling from other’s lips. A voice she was supposed to want and yet she didn’t.

“Mom! You need to kiss her!”

That last sentence clung to her as she closed her eyes…

Only to open them a second after, Emma’s name on her lips and a very difficult explanation swirling on her mind.

“I guess,” The blonde’s voice said as she helped her get up from the middle of the street. “That you now remember.” She was back to her usual clothes as well as Regina but the brunette felt something amiss; as if part of her still wanted that other world in where she was slightly more naïve, slightly less jaded, slightly less preoccupied.

But she didn’t have time for that, she decided, her lips tingling with a kiss she knew well who was from, Emma’s magic buzzing from inside of her. Not now.


End file.
